Unless you live under a rock, you’re probably aware that many analysts think we’re headed for a recession. How your business will be affected depends on a lot of factors, including your location, industry, and mode of operation. Are you virtual? Perhaps brick and mortar? Do you rely on a supply chain to acquire the products you sell?
I have gathered some general tips of things you can apply right now to your specific situation to help weather the upcoming storm.
You’re going to have to ask yourself some hard questions, like “Could I lose my clients over this?” Depending on your industry, it’s indeed possible. I encourage you to take a moment to step out of the fear, think logically, and address the potential scenarios at hand. If the recession comes, with the way that you’re running your business right now, will you be able to continue serving your customers? Evaluate your risk, and then think about potential alternatives.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Subscriptions and software – We all are guilty of signing up for programs or subscriptions with good intentions of utilizing them at some point in our business to run more efficiently. As business owners, we get pulled in a million directions, and unfortunately, we end up paying for services that we aren’t using. Now is a great time to look at services and subscriptions you’re paying for that you are not using, or not using fully. Definitely look at your bank and credit card statements and identify the necessities to properly operate your business. You want to be thinking both short-term and long-term.
- Marketing strategy – What’s working? What’s not? Recession is a time to both re-evaluate your marketing strategy and double down on where it is working. Think about it this way – you have fewer customers already during a recession. Do you want to shut off the efforts that get more customers, or do you want to invest? Be sure to nurture those prospects in your pipeline, too.
- Time and calendar management – Create that content that has been on your to-do list for weeks. Organize your administrative or virtual assistant. Review your calendar and make sure it is accurate. Get your receipts and tax documents to your accountant. You want to maximize your productivity in order to optimize your revenue and profits.
- Check with your bookkeeper or accountant on your financial health – Nobody knows your current financial situation better than the people you hire to manage your books. Review with your accountant or bookkeeper cash reserves. Make sure that you’re looking at all of your assets and look at their liquidity. How quickly do you convert this into money if necessary? Look at your cash flow, how has your money been flowing so far? Do some forecasting, creating some trend scenarios, and how things could play out. This is a time to be very frank and think about the worst-case scenario, just so you can make informed decisions going forward. For you to be able to do this you will need to have a good set of books, to properly evaluate your current expenditures and identify anything that isn’t truly essential.